Answer:
B) It emphasizes how Columbus's discovery led to the beginning of a new world.
Step-by-step explanation:
The stars were used by sailors to help them navigate their way as they were moving across the ocean. In this case, the stars are sources of enlightenment and they help lead the way and show what is ahead.
They help emphasize the discovery of Columbus since it shows the New World was not discovered before but it is through the sailing of Columbus as he was finding the route to the Far East that led to the discovery of the Americas. The Americas was not discovered before meaning there was no light or knowledge of it that describes why the stars are gone. But now the discovery helps shed light on people and they came to know of the Americas.
Poem:
Read the poem.
Columbus
by Joaquin miller
behind him lay the gray Azores,
behind the gates of Hercules;
before him not the ghost of shores,
before him only shoreless seas.
the good mate said: "now must we pray,
for lo! the very stars are gone.
brave Admiral, speak, what shall I say? "
"why, say, 'sail on! sail on! and on! '"
"my men grow mutinous day by day;
my men grow ghastly wan and weak."
the stout mate thought of home; a spray
of salt, a wave washed his swarthy cheek.
"What shall I say, brave Admiral, say,
if we sight naught but seas at dawn? "
"why, you shall say at break of day,
'sail on! sail on! sail on! and on! '"
they sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,
until at last, the blanched mate said:
"why, now not even God would know
should I and all my men fall dead?
these very winds forget their way,
for god from these dread seas is gone.
now speak, brave Admiral, speak and say"—
he said: "sail on! sail on! and on! "
they sailed. they sailed. then spake the mate:
"this mad sea shows his teeth tonight.
he curls his lip, he lies in wait,
with lifted teeth, as if to bite!
brave admiral, say but one good word:
what shall we do when hope is gone? "
the words leaped like a leaping sword:
"sail on! sail on! sail on! and on! "
then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
and peered through darkness. ah, that night
of all dark nights! and then a speck—
a light! a light! a light! a light!
it grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
it grew to be time's burst of dawn.
he gained a world; he gave that world
its grandest lesson: "on! sail on! "